How to Create Google-Friendly Content?

Did you know that over 90% of web pages receive no organic search traffic from Google?

As the most popular search engine on the web, and arguably the most visited website, it’s Google’s world, and we’re all just living in it.

Where you rank on Google’s SERPs has a massive impact on how much organic traffic your website gets. If you’re not keeping search intent or high-ranking keywords in mind, you won’t appear high on search result pages. That’s why it’s crucial to optimize your content based on Google’s guidelines, so you always remain on its good side.

Why should you create content with Google in mind?

In order to play by Google’s terms, you have to understand its rules. And with a complicated set of guidelines, new additional penalties, and ever-changing algorithms, it can be a challenge to keep up. However, there’s very good incentive to do so: Ignoring the rules can result in a harsh penalty from Google that will leave your traffic, and ultimately, your bottom line, suffering.

To keep your content fresh and high-performing, you first need to know which bad content practices to ditch and which best practices to adopt so you can stay in Google’s good books.. Keep reading for a complete breakdown of my dos and don’ts for creating content that Google will love.

1. Aim for high-quality and high value content

Google penalizes the use of thin content, which can result in a hefty fine for your traffic. If you’re using dishonest practices like content scraping or keyword stuffing to drive up your organic traffic, you’re at risk of a penalty.

It’s key that your content has value that’s both clear to the reader and meets Google’s standards. One way to do this is to EAT your content. No, not literally (though I’m sure it’s delicious) EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness: these are the qualities that Google looks for in content creators to ensure that their content is up to par.

Essentially, the best way to ensure you’re meeting Google’s standards is to create and leverage content that’s helpful to the target audience, created by an expert, comes from a reputable source, and is updated regularly. This means having a sound content marketing strategy that’s founded in data.

2. Avoid featuring careless YMYL content

Not all content is created equally. When determining search quality, Google puts extra emphasis on the legitimacy of pages where untrustworthy content can have serious consequences. Google refers to these kinds of pages as Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content, on which poor-quality content could have dangerous implications for the reader. YMYL content includes topics like news, government or legal information, financial information, online shopping, health resources, and more.

As Google puts it in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, “For pages about clear YMYL topics, we have very high Page Quality rating standards because low quality pages on such topics could potentially negatively impact a person’s health, financial stability, or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society” and are therefore heavily monitored.

If you’re creating or leveraging YMYL content, you need to be doubly careful about the quality you’re putting out there. By making sure your content meets the EAT standards, you should be able to avoid penalties around sensitive topics.

3. Conduct frequent competitor analysis

In order to outrank the competition, it’s crucial that you keep an eye on what they’re up to. The better you understand your competitor’s content marketing and SEO strategies, the more likely you’re able to create content that competes successfully. You should conduct frequent content audits in order to compare strategies and best-performing keywords and determine what steps you can take to improve.

Tools like Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence make it easier to keep an eye on your competition so that you can pinpoint their search strategy and determine the results of their tactics. With keyword research tools in particular, you can see which paid and organic keywords your competitors are using and spot untapped opportunities. You can also monitor search trends across your industry and target the right keywords to drive more website traffic.

4. Consider the user intent

Between meeting Google’s guidelines and scoping out the competition, don’t lose sight of the purpose of your search strategy: to understand and anticipate the user’s needs. The goal of effective search engine marketing (SEM) is to meet the user intent in as few clicks as possible.

Google looks for specific search behaviors to determine what a user is trying to find. By optimizing your content to fit users’ search intent you can improve your SEO and create a seamless user experience. Take a look at some search intent signals to guide your strategy:

Don’t forget that by enhancing your content with long-tail keywords, you’re more likely to meet customers’ needs. You can check which content is ranking at the top of the SERPs for inspiration and try to use the same strategy.

The bottom line

To stay on Google’s good side and have a successful search strategy, you need to consider a variety of factors when creating content. Make sure the value you’re providing to users is clear (Google will know), and that you’re tracking your competitors’ strategies (because Google will be).

By creating content that’s optimized in line with Google’s preferences and guidelines, you’re one step closer to creating powerful, high-converting content that will establish you as an authority in your field.

Before you know it, you’ll be sweeping the SERPs – and I look forward to seeing you there!

by Chloe Dougherty

Email Marketing Specialist

Chloe specializes in email and content marketing. She enjoys podcasts, reading short stories, and baking, and lives in Tel Aviv with her cat.